


The Things We Never Said

by AlienAlkali



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Comedy, Fluff, Found Family, Human Rayla, Humour, I ship Coren/Sorvus okay?, I’ll add more tags later, Moonfam reunion, Multi, Observant Callum, Post Season 3, Post-Canon, Sassy Rayla, —Callum wasn’t the one to cast Historia Viventem, —Rayla knows magic!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:28:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25737289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlienAlkali/pseuds/AlienAlkali
Summary: Rayla remembered how in love her adoptive parents were. She remembered how she always wanted something like that someday. She remembered how perfect they were together.OR Rayla and Callum try to find a way to bring Rayla’s family back together.
Relationships: Amaya/Janai (The Dragon Prince), Callum & Ezran & Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Corvus/Soren (The Dragon Prince), Ethari & Lain & Runaan & Tiadrin (The Dragon Prince), Ethari & Rayla & Runaan (The Dragon Prince), Ethari & Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Ethari/Runaan (The Dragon Prince), Lain & Rayla & Tiadrin (The Dragon Prince), Lain/Tiadrin (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 42
Kudos: 98





	1. Chapter 1

Falling off the Storm Spire was painful. Or, at least Viren thought it was. He couldn’t remember much after the falling part of it. Lucky for him, Claudia was there. Claudia, his amazing daughter. Claudia, who saved his life at the risk of her own. 

He took in a deep breath of air, trying to get a bearing on everything that had happened. He was now in a cave... where? With no food and little water. Waiting for Aaravos to... what? He sighed. This better have been worth it.

He patted down his person, making sure everything was still intact. You could never be too careful when a young dark mage performs a hard spell.

“Claudia? Where’s my coin pouch?” he asked, struggling to remain calm.

Claudia shrugged. “I dunno. I didn’t even know you had one, Dad.”

“So it wasn’t on me when you found me?”

She was picking up on the urgency in his voice. “No. Why? Was it important?” 

Viren took a few deep breaths to calm himself. This wasn’t good. He _needed_ that coin pouch. 

“Yes. Very.”

••• •— ——• •— —••• •— —••• —•——

Rayla remembered how in love her adoptive parents were. She remembered how she always wanted something like that someday. She remembered how perfect they were together.

The rising sun was beautiful over the thick, puffy clouds surrounding the Spire. Rayla sighed as she meditated, something taught to her by her adoptive father, Runaan. She sighed at the memory of him.

What would he think of her achievements? Would he be proud of her? Disappointed? He’d seemed pretty upset the last time she saw him. What would he think if she chose to join the Dragon Guard? All those years training to be an assassin...

She turned her head sharply when she heard footsteps, ready for anything. Callum walked up to the top of the Spire and cleared his throat, giving a small wave. What a dork... but he was her dork.

“Hey,” he mumbled shyly.

“Hey,” she replied briskly.

“May I join you?” He took her silence as a yes and settled down next to her. “So... what you thinking about?”

Rayla sighed and tried not to roll her eyes. “I try not to think when I meditate.”

Callum considered this for a moment. Then his eyebrows furrowed together. “So then what’s on your mind?”

“Why do you always think there’s something wrong, Callum?” Her frustration was starting to bubble now.

He frowned. “Well, for one, you avoided my question _twice._ Number two, you said you _try_ not to think when you meditate, hinting that your mind was not clear. Thirdly, you ignored me when I asked if I could join you, and you typically only ignore people when your mind is preoccupied. And lastly, you got frustrated pretty quickly.” She was staring at him with a slightly open mouth. He put a finger to his chin as he reconsidered. “Well, unless it’s that time of the month...”

She shook out of her daze and recollected herself. “I’m fine, Callum.”

Callum smiled softly at her, noting that she looks down when she lies. He took her hand and squeezed it gently. “Okay.”

Rayla was touched by his softness, burying her face in his neck. She inhaled several breathes of his scent to calm her nerves and he sat there, silently comforting her. They shared a beautiful language, one they invented but never spoke of. Silent touches, gentle nudges. Eyes that speak, thoughts that breathe. Love. It was their love language. It’s what gets them through.

After several minutes of Rayla secluding herself from the world in his arms, and Callum lightly running his thumb over her back, she sighed. “I guess I just... I don’t know, feel bad?” Callum listened, his silence encouraging her to continue. “Ever since I failed my mission, I felt like I had failed my family. Disgraced the family name further. Let everyone down. But I believed what I was doing was right. But... Runaan? The man who raised me? The look of betrayal in his eyes was unbearable. And then he died. Because of me.”

He put a calming hand to her cheek as she took a shaky breath. “And then... I found a family. With you, and Bait, and Zym, and Ezran. We talked to Ethari, and I started to feel more confident in myself. Then we saw what actually happened to my parents and I... I felt _whole_ again. I knew who I was and where I came from. And I knew I was going to fix my family name. But then you showed me... you taught me that life and duty is not all about honour and the sacrifice of laying down my own life. It’s about protecting what I believe in, what I fight for, what I love. And that’s...”

Tears were welling up in both of their eyes now, and Callum pulled her in close. “Rayla, I had no idea. How you feel? You shouldn’t have to carry a burden like that. Runaan’s death _wasn’t_ your fault. Your parents _love_ you with all their heart, I just know it. Ethari is proud of who you have grown to be, and I know Runaan does not think of you as a failure. You are loved in this world, and I love you for who you are.”

Tears were streaming down Rayla’s face and Callum was no longer able to hold his back now. She kissed him on the cheek.

“Thank you, Callum.” Rayla wiped her cheeks before rolling her eyes and turning to a boulder. “You can come out now, Gren!”

Callum, thoroughly confused, turned his head to where his girlfriend—how he loved that word—was looking. A head of auburn hair poked out from behind the boulder, sheepish smile playing at his lips. “Hehe. Sorry about that, I didn’t want to interrupt anything,” he clarified, rubbing the nape of his neck. “I was looking for Amaya, but felt like I’d ruin the moment if I got caught leaving, considering your expert senses.”

Rayla let the faintest smile grace her features. “So you eavesdropped instead?”

Gren was quick to ease her suspicions. “No! No! Not at all! I wasn’t trying to, at least...”

Callum felt bad for the soldier. “Rayla, quit messing with the poor man. What did your parents teach you?”

She sighed dramatically. In her best monotone voice, she responded, “Don’t play with your food.”

They both couldn’t contain their laughter and Gren eased a little as the mood lightened up. He started chuckling along with them, finding the joke rather funny as well. The laughter died down after a while.

“Well, Amaya isn’t up here, but maybe—“

“Um, actually, I did kind of overhear your conversation. I know it’s not really my place to ask, but what did you say that elf’s name was? Rooney? Ronan? R—“

“Runaan?” Rayla responded.

“Yes!”

“Yeah, he’s my uncle. Well, more like a father. He and his husband, Ethari, raised me. Why?”

“I don’t know, I feel like his name sounds familiar.” This hardly surprised Rayla. They probably announced the name of the assassin who killed King Harrow. Which was Runaan. “Maybe if you give me a description of him...”

“Uh... he has silky white hair that reaches his butt. He puts it in this braided ponytail thing and he’s pretty muscular. He wears silver horn cuffs at the base of his horns and purple paint that streaks horizontally across his nose. He also has paint on his triceps and left pectoral. He’s 6’2”, but with his horns he’s 6’4”.” She could see the wheels in his head slowly turning and for just a moment, a glimmer of hope ignited.

“Always brooding?”

“Yep! That’s him!” Rayla wanted to know more. She needed to know more. What memories of him did he have that she didn’t?

“Yeah, I think we were prison roomies.”

“Prison what?”

“Prison roomies. From when Viren trapped us in his dungeon right after King Harrow was...” He looked to Callum, remembering he was here, too. 

Callum shrugged. “Killed? Yeah, I know. It’s okay, though. I’m getting through it.” Rayla took his hand and smiled softly at him before turning back to Gren.

“So what...?” She didn’t want to finish that sentence, and luckily she didn’t have to. 

“What happened to him? Um, well... after several weeks of being held captive, I just remember Viren walking into his cell, there was chatter, and then all of a sudden a bright light came from under the cell door and there was screaming. Then... nothing.” He gulped, looking down. “I’m sorry, Rayla. Really. You’re going to hate to hear this, but he...”

“Died?” She looked down and was sad again. “Yeah. I know.”

“He was brave and he stood his ground. He was loyal to his people, selfless. He was a good man, Rayla.”

It was Callum’s turn to take her face in his hands. “Hey. You have a family, okay? Sure, Runaan may be dead and you might not be able to see Ethari a lot, but you still got me and Ezran. We can be your family.”

“What would I do without you?” That was her way of saying _I love you._

He held her in his arms for a few more seconds before Gren piped up again. “If only there were a way to know how he died. I think that might help psychologically.”

Rayla nodded her head. “Yeah, if there were a way.”

Callum’s brain was thinking again. “Rayla, you’re good at tracking, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Gren, do you know if Runaan’s cell got cleaned?”

“I stayed a few more weeks, but as far as I know, it didn’t.”

Rayla saw the exact moment in which a fully formed plan presented itself on Callum’s face and she was tempted to kiss him. He was such a dork.

“What if we visit Runaan’s old cell and Rayla can see if she finds any clues as to how he died.”

Rayla raised an eyebrow. “You mean investigate the crime scene?”

“Yes.”

“Callum... that’s actually not a terrible idea.”

“Why thank you,” he said with a bow and a flourish. She rolled her eyes. “Gren, do you think you could—“

“Yeah. I know where he went.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rayla sighed. “He didn’t die. But he’s not alive, either. And there’s nothing I can do about it.”
> 
> She could still remember the screams. She remembered it well, actually. The words of the spell, the way the room glowed, Runaan’s screams as he got sucked in. Gren has confirmed that Runaan had been tortured while in captivity, but not once had he screamed. Not until he got coined.
> 
> “He was too stubborn, too proud. And I let him down.”

They had a bit of trouble getting Rayla in through the castle gates. They knew this, which is one of many reasons why Amaya was coming along. 

Gren, Amaya, Ezran, Callum, Rayla, and Bait were having a conversation by the edge of the forest, not far from the castle guards. 

“Y’know,” Rayla was saying, “I could pretend to be a human again.”

Callum went to object but Ezran chipped in. “Oh! Human Rayla is the best!” Bait glowed orange. “See! Even Bait agrees!”

“Uh, no,” Callum scoffed.

Rayla pulls her hood over her head. “Hello fella humans, human fellas. I’m just a normal human who likes lying and politics. Oh wait. Those are the same thing.”

Amaya signs something and Gren translates. “As much as I like where this is going, I have a better idea. Everyone make sure you have your... stuff.”

And so they just walked right on through, no Human Rayla.

The guards stood to attention as soon as they saw General Amaya with Commander Gren, Prince Callum, and King Ezran. But as soon as they laid eyes on Rayla, they hesitated, blocking the party from entering.

Gren spoke for Amaya as she signed. “Is there a problem, officers?”

They hesitated further before one of them spoke up. “Uh... the moonshadow elf...”

Amaya rolled her eyes. “Yes, she is with us. Now...” Gren fumbled to come up with something child appropriate, “beat it.” 

Amaya smirked as the guards let them by, who were visibly uncomfortable when Rayla passed through the gates. The group then stopped by the stables to drop off their horses. 

“Come on, this way,” Gren encourages.

It takes several minutes for them to get to Viren’s dungeon as Gren tries to remember the way there. But once they’re there, Runaan’s old cell isn’t hard to find.

Rayla holds her breath as she pushes the door open slowly. She may have been holding onto a little bit of hope, however irrational it was. These hopes quickly died when she stood in an empty room.

Gren’s eyebrows furrowed. “That’s strange. I never saw Viren take out the body.” 

Rayla searched the room, desperate to find _something._ She needed to know what happened here.

But there was no blood, no smell of rotting bodies, no air flow between cracks in secret passages. There was nothing here but pain. 

Callum soon sees how this was a bad idea and is quick to do something about it. “Rayla.” He puts his hand on her shoulder and she turns, her face empty and devoid of hope.

“There isn’t anything here. Not a single clue.”

Her quiet tone shattered something deep inside him. He shook his head. “That’s okay, though. Because now we know. We know what his circumstances were like, we can see it with our own eyes. He was chained to that wall. There was a mirror and a table. There was a bit of air circulation coming from underneath the door. A bowl of water was laid out for him. Now we know. And now we can move on.”

Rayla starting tearing up. She noticed how he said _we,_ as though they were one. As though everyone in this room was her family, suffering through her pain with her, letting her know they would always be by her side. She couldn’t have been more grateful, because even when Xadia ghosted her and turned their back on her, she still could find love and comfort where she wouldn’t be judged.

She nodded. “He must have used dark magic to torture him. The supplies left on the table, used for spells. I can’t imagine the things Runaan went through.”

Callum knew she was blaming herself, and he would have said something had a thought not occurred to him. “Wait, he used magic?”

“Yeah? Why?” Rayla sniffed and looked him in the face.

“Rayla... remember that spell you cast at the Spire? What was it called? Historia Viventem?”

“Yes...”

“What if you used that to—“

“Reveal what happened to Runaan? Callum, you’re a genius!”

“Oh, you know. It comes naturally.”

——••• ••• • •— ••• ——— —•

Callum had given her some space after what she had seen. She needed it. She had spent the rest of the day crying, blaming herself, and getting angry from crying. 

“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.”

Rayla turned around when Callum approached. She was sitting on the roof of the castle, looking down at the courtyard, just before sunrise. 

Rayla sighed. “He didn’t die. But he’s not alive, either. And there’s nothing I can do about it.”

She could still remember the screams. She remembered it well, actually. The words of the spell, the way the room glowed, Runaan’s screams as he got sucked in. Gren has confirmed that Runaan had been tortured while in captivity, but not once had he screamed. Not until he got coined.

“He was too stubborn, too proud. And I let him down.”

“Rayla...” Callum wrapped his arms around her. “It was _not_ your fault. You did the right thing in delivering the dragon prince home. You stopped a murder, a full on war. Many more innocent people would have died. But sometimes even the right choices can hurt.” She settled her head on his shoulder and he put his head on top of hers. 

“I sketched what happened,” he mentioned several minutes later, trying to lighten the mood.

“You did? Can I see them?” Callum took out his sketch pad and opened it up to the last few pages. Rayla took it all in, impressed by his drawing skills and grateful that he thought to record the events. “We should take this to Ethari soon. I think he deserves to know.”

Callum nods in agreement. It might make Ethari even more upset, knowing that his husband is still suffering, but it was his right.

He started to close up his sketch pad when Rayla put her hand to one of the pages. “Wait a minute...” she squinted at one of the illustrations. “Are those... more coins?”

Callum looked to where she was referring to and there it was. Three other coins on the desk next to the coin pouch. 

“Do you think...?”

“I don’t know,” Rayla answered. “But it’s possible that more elves were trapped in a coin.”

“Rayla...” Callum’s voice was hesitant and quiet, which worried Rayla. “Do you know what this could mean? Your parents... they could be in there.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Milk sprayed onto Callum’s face as soon as Ezran said that. “Wait, _tonight?_ ”
> 
> The boys exchanged glances. “Yeah, tonight, why?”
> 
> “You got a hot date tonight?” Callum winked. 
> 
> “Wait, don’t tell me you forgot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven’t updated in two months, I’m so sorry, please don’t kill me. ( ’ >~<)Д
> 
> But do enjoy the fluff and shenanigans I have planned.

“What if we use a tracking spell?”

Rayla stood hunched over a desk in the library, her hair disheveled. Books and papers were piled on top of one another in organised chaos atop the desk, one pencil by Rayla, another in Callum’s hand.

She sighed. “Callum. Can we please not talk about this?”

“Why? It could save your family.”

For three days Callum had been balancing out princely duties with finding a solution to find and free Runaan. Rayla spent the three days helping Amaya train some new trainees while helping Callum find a solution in her free time. The project was driving them both to obsession. Almost.

“At what price?”

Callum hesitated, frowning. 

She looked up from the desk and into his eyes. “At what price, Callum?” she prompted further, a hint of anger and sadness rising. 

“I— well...” He lowered his head. 

She sighed for the umpteenth time since arriving at the library. “I don’t want you getting hurt. I’ve dealt with losing the people I love and I’ve been coping my whole life.” Rayla cupped his face and he leaned forward, resting his forehead on hers. 

“I can’t lose you too.”

•• ••— •——• —•• •— — • —••

Footsteps rang against the cold stone of the early morning floor in the hallway. The sun was almost above the horizon now, but Rayla was ready for the day. Well, after she got breakfast, that was.

Amaya wouldn’t let her go about her day without eating breakfast.

On her way to the dining hall she passed a few guards, who all gave her weary glances. Not that she noticed, of course. Royal guards were much too sneaky for a moonshadow assassin. 

Word spread around like wildfire that there was already an elf among the humans. Apparently several people thought it was just a myth, a rumour. 

She sighed. The world has a long way to go if they wanted peace and acceptance.

Walking into the dinning hall equipped for training, Rayla found Callum and Ezran sitting next to each other, leaning over a few pieces of paper and discussing something as they idly stuffed their mouths. People passing by paid little to no attention. 

“Mornin’, fella humans!”

“You sound cheerful this morning,” Ezran remarked. He smiled, Bait glowing in his lap as Rayla tossed him a piece of ham from her already waiting plate.

“Yeah, what’s up with that?” Callum didn’t even look up, too engrossed in the documents as he reached for his coffee.

“Can’t I just be happy? You know, sun shinin’, birds chirpin’, another day of scaring the wits out of new trainees.” She smirked.

The two boys just grinned. Happy was a good look on her. Callum raised an eyebrow. 

“Fine. I saw Soren tumble down the stairs this morning,” she snickered, taking her seat.

“That’s good to see you enjoy spending time with Aunt Amaya so much,” Ezran chirped. “We’re finishing correcting minor details for the peace meeting tonight.”

Milk sprayed onto Callum’s face as soon as Ezran said that. “Wait, _tonight?_ ”

The boys exchanged glances. “Yeah, tonight, why?”

“You got a hot date tonight?” Callum winked. 

“Wait, don’t tell me you forgot.”

Rayla felt so dumb as she buried her face in her hands. “Ugh, no, I just didn’t think it was so soon!”

Callum smiled affectionately from across the table. Dork. She looked out the window, her anxiety stirring up a storm. Her boyfriend—how she loved that word—tapped her foot from under the table and she tapped back. Another small gesture of affection. She smiled before realising the sun was just starting to break the horizon.

“Moons above!” she exclaimed. “I have to go or I’ll be late!”

The boys just smiled and shook their heads as she got up, kissing the top of Ezran’s head, giving Bait a scratch, and kissing Callum on the nose. 

“Love you,” he whispered. 

“Love you too, dork.” But before she could rush off, Callum caught her hand. 

“You hardly ate anything. Take something to go real quick.”

“Ugh, you’re just like your aunt,” she scoffed, reaching for his spoon and stuffing several bites of oatmeal into her mouth. 

“Hey! That’s my breakfast!”

“Ymmh hmm hem mmr mmmrf.”

With that, Rayla was out the door on her way to the courtyard.

Ezran huffed a sigh, an elbow on the table, resting his face on his hand. “I miss Zym.”

— •••• • —•—— —•• ——— •—• —•— •••

The trainees were all lined up as Amaya signed what the agenda for today looked like. Rayla stood by a nearby tree behind the trainees, not wanting to disturb her speech, but General Amaya and Commander Gren noticed. 

Amaya locked eyes with the young assassin, tilting her chin up ever so slightly. Rayla walked forward. 

“—will be dismissed an hour early for the peace meeting,” Gren was saying. “First, you will be assessed on your sword-fighting abilities.”

Rayla stepped between two of the trainees as she took her place beside Amaya. Amaya couldn’t contain a smirk as some of them gasped, gawked, flinched, and widened their eyes as soon as they saw her. 

A moonshadow elf. A moonshadow _assassin._ Almost no one in the kingdom saw one and lived to tell the tale. Everyone thought it was a joke when Marcos said he had—when he said one had spared his life. 

Sometimes it was fun to see everyone’s reaction—they looked ridiculous. She and Callum usually got a good laugh out of it when they were alone. But sometimes it was alienating. She spent her whole life training to blend in, fitting in with her people. It was just a reminder that she was _different,_ that this wasn’t her home.

Amaya gestured for them to start before giving Rayla an encouraging smile. She wasn’t one to be sappy—and made no attempt to be—but she was aware of the burden and hurt the young elf had to carry. Rayla gave a small smile in return and stalked off to assess the trainees.

•——• •— •—• — •— —•—— 

“Oof!” Soren puffed when he landed on his back in the dirt. A gasp went through the group. 

“Ah, you must me Katolis’s best soldier, huh?” Rayla teased, a blade to his throat. 

Soren smirked. “No. That spot is reserved for General Amaya.”

She considered this as Amaya smiled smugly. He had a point. Rayla might have been the second best assassin in Xadia, but they both knew Amaya could beat her. _Best,_ she reminded herself bitterly. Even though she was ghosted, she was now the best in Xadia. And she couldn’t even kill. A title that came at a price. The title was not worth the price.

Rayla took the blade off his throat and pulled him to his feet as Marcos came by, heading straight for Amaya. Soren had come by not too long ago to see how training was going. As Gren translated the hushed whispers and signs, Soren and Rayla turned their attention to the trainees.

They gave everyone last minute tips and tricks for the day, and it wasn’t lost on Rayla that some were still intimidated by her. Marcos finished his conversation with the other two, turning to Soren with a wink before walking off.

Rayla raised an eyebrow at Soren’s flush. “What was that about?” she teased.

“N-nothing. Marcos is just a bit of a flirt.”

“Mmhmm. Okay. Whatever you s—”

“Rayla!” She turned to the sound of the voice, fingers twitching for her blades. “Rayla,” Callum huffed, catching up to her at a sudden stop, “are you ready?”

“Does it look like I am?”

One of the nearby trainees raised their eyebrows. Not many were bold enough to sass the royal family. Not that the royal family minded. They were always up for a good laugh. 

“Well, no, it’s just that I thought you would be done by now. The peace meeting starts in two hours.”

She shrugged. “Uh, I think we’re almost done, so I’ll start getting ready soon. Unless you need me for something?”

He smiled cutely, taking both her hands. “I always need you.”

Rayla’s face was as red as a tomato as Callum turned to Amaya and signed to her. “Pleeeease?” he added.

Amaya sighed and rolled her eyes, but the smile on her lips was there. She nodded. 

“Thanks, Aunt Amaya!” He gave her a big hug before taking off again, his girlfriend’s hand in his. 

“Alright, five laps around the courtyard and then you are dismissed,” they heard Gren in the distance over the sound of their giggling.

“Okay, I’m going to take a shower and get dressed. I’ll meet you in the great hall when I’m done.”

“Okay, _Prince Callum_ ,” she sassed, ruffling his hair and earning a laugh. 

He took in a breath to calm his nerves. It was something he did regularly, she knew. Whenever stress became too much. It was something his mother taught him to do. 

“Tonight’s a big night. I hope this goes well.”

She nodded sadly. “Yeah. Me too.”

Callum took her face in his hands and kissed her forehead. “Hey. I know how much this means to you. I can’t imagine having to go through what you are. It’s hard, isn’t it? Everyone is holding their breaths, wanting everything to turn out fine. But you? You have a personal stake in this. But you don’t have to go through it alone. I’m always going to be here. And no matter what happens, you’ve got a family here, welcoming you with open arms.”

Rayla took in a shaky breath, her arms wrapping tight around him. “Thanks, Callum. I needed that.”

He smiled and they stayed like that for a moment before he scrunched his face and back off. “Ugh, you need a shower. And I thought _I_ was bad. Phew-wee!”

She snickered and her dramatic, silly boyfriend. “Okay, okay, I’m goin’ to get ready. Ugh, human princes. So insensitive.”

“I love you too.”

She shook her head as she closed the door to her bedroom, her grin wide. What a dork. Quickly, she took a shower and thought long and hard about what to wear. _If I wear my usual outfit, that might insult the representatives of the Silvergrove since I’m technically ghosted. But if I wear something different, I might prove their suspicions of me being unloyal to Xadia._

“Ughhhh,” she groaned, weighing her options. She put on her assassin’s uniform—it had been washed many times—and attempted to tame her hair when a knock came at her door.

“Opeli?” 

The woman smiled kindly. “You doing okay? I thought you might need help with your outfit.”

Rayla had only been around for a few days, but the advisor had already gotten a sense of her personality. Rayla wasn’t big on appearances, as the advisor had caught on quickly. The elf sighed in relief.

“Thank you. Really.”

“Anytime.”

••—• •—•• ••— ••—• ••—•

Rayla rushed through the hallways and took the shortcut through the kitchen, snacking on some fruit and a slice of bread as she went, not even slowing down. She was starving and wasn’t sure if she’d make it another hour. 

She finished her apple and threw it away by the time she caught up with Callum, swiftly stopping by his side.

“There you are,” he smiled after finishing his conversation with someone. He took in her assassin’s uniform under her purple shawl. The shawl was wrapped around her shoulders, a pin of the moon arcanum keeping two corners of the shawl together and pinned to one corner of the shawl. The rest draped elegantly over one shoulder. Her white hair was pulled into a ponytail, a few small braids pulled back with it. “Wow, Rayla, you look nice! I mean, not that you don’t look nice everyday, because you do! You just look different. But in a good, nice way! You—”

Rayla effectively shut him up with a kiss in which he was more than happy to melt into. 

“I... uhm... I should...” 

She giggled. “You needed me for something?”

“Right. Uh, so, in Katolis, we have this tradition where whenever we host a gathering of some sort, there’s always someone to greet the guests by the front gate. And, uh, well, Ezran thought it would be a good idea if the three of us did it.”

She smiled, loving the idea, but a nervous wave of adrenaline burst through her. The elves—her family and kin—were waiting on the other side of the gate. And they all probably hated her. She nodded. “Okay. Yeah, I love that idea.”

“Okay,” he breathed. He was nervous too, as his breath indicated.

Corvus entered the great hall, followed by Ezran, making a beeline straight for the couple. 

“Prince Callum, Lady Rayla,” he greeted. Rayla hated that title. “It’s time to open the gates.”

Callum took a calming breath. Rayla just stared straight ahead, listening to the sound of her beating heart. Ezran reaches for both their hands and tugged them forward. 

The sky was a beautiful mix of vibrant sunset colours casting a warm glow everywhere it touched. 

They stopped several metres from the front gate in the courtyard. Rayla’s nerves were on fire. She stood next to Callum with Ezran between them and slightly forward, trying not to let the excitement get the best of him. 

Another breath.

Callum turned his head to her, his whisper light. “You’re family will always be here for you.”

She took his hand and the gates opened up.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos warm my heart! 💓
> 
> @legend-of-the-fandoms on tumblr.
> 
> If you liked this, you might like my Ruthari one-shot compilation _Our Home._
> 
> Grazie, amici!


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